Wings and Weapons
by findingmymuse
Summary: The Flock took refuge in District 13 before the end-of-the-world as they knew it. Frozen until the Final Rebellion (100 years later), it's up to them to help rebuild the world. With the help of some new allies, of course. Katniss and Max no longer have to bare the burden of "saving the world" by themselves. Can this kick-butt duo right the wrongs of humanity? Or is it a lost cause?
1. Prologue

My name is Maximum Ride. And I survived the Apocalypse.

I don't say that to be dramatic. I really did. The meteor that you've probably only heard about in stories was real...and it really did destroy most of the world. It left such a mark on the world that most of the continents shifted from its impact, leaving a mangled mess instead. "Panem" is where my old home of North America used to be...and that's all that's left of the world. One inhabitable chunk of land mass.

There were very few survivors and even less human ones. But there were survivors, nonetheless.

I found out later that the humans managed to round themselves up and procreate (like they should have) and rebuild the population. From a few thousand to almost a million in only one hundred short years. Now, that's progress people! If only the animals could have been so successful in their re-populations Maybe then some of you might know what a Yorkie Terrier was. Maybe then Total wouldn't have freaked a bunch of you out...but I digress. Bigger issues here than our dog.

Like maybe the fact that I had to distinguish between human survivors and what I am.

And what is that exactly? I'm sure that you're going to ask that at some point. Might as well get the unpleasantries out of the way. Well, I don't find them unpleasant but a lot of people did when I first explained exactly how we had gotten there and exactly what we were. Even so, after the initial shock, we were accepted into this destroyed society (which was still better than the one that we had left). The people of today are much more accepting and less judgy than those that we knew when we were growing up, you know, a hundred years ago. The times had changed and I was grateful.

I was grateful mainly because being a winged teenager was tough enough without people judging you all of the time.

The Flock: Fang, Iggy, Dylan, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel (oh, and Total) had had to live with being freaks our entire lives and found that an island away from everyone was the perfect habitat for us. Even when we were forced to move underground, we remained optimistic (though, there was the occasional claustrophobic freak-out by a few of the bird-kids...mainly me).

There were others with us on the island, but over the years their little genetic diversities were what ended up killing them as we were forced to live underground in the tunnel caves. Poor little Rachel with her tiny neck gills suffocated to death in the tunnel cave. K-9, who refused to take a human name, died of old age; his dog DNA fast-forwarded his aging process to where the six year old that started out on the island was dead within two years. The list goes on and on as the dead kept piling up. Their fragile DNA combinations made it hard for them to exceed past a year in the tunnels, let alone three. Though, I think that some of them were doomed from the very beginning no matter where we were living. It broke my heart.

But with my bird DNA, as long as I could stretch my wings out a little bit every day, I could live in just about any place.

Yeah, I said it. I have wings. Big whoop. There are freaks here in Panem who purposefully dye their skin green for fashion or pierce things that I won't even tell you about. At least mine was a science experiment gone right. I was designed to have wings in a 'laboratory.' For some reason, that word didn't register with my new companions either. But I guess there was no need for a genetics lab in this new world. Too few humans as it was, right? Who needed to change the genetic composition of a few babies when the entire world was at stake.

How can I know firsthand about the meteor that killed billions a hundred years ago? I must be crazy, right? A lunatic who read one too many history books and thinks that she was there. But the truth is, if you can wrap your little brains around it, is that I was there.

I was fifteen when the meteor struck. I was hiding with my family and those that were gifted like me. For three whole years we lived underground, praying that today was not the day that we would die and hoping that we would not have to bury any more of our friends in this tunnel that Jeb created oh so long ago as a backup plan for the "island of misfit mutants" as Iggy had so thoughtfully dubbed it.

All this time, Jeb and Dylan were working on finding a way to preserve us. The boy genius and the doctor took three years to build and stabilize a few chryo-chambers. But they finally announced that they were ready for us to give it a try.

_"I don't understand. If you think that this will work, then why can't you go with us?" I asked. Though I had never really been a complete fan of my father's and had only recently begun to accept that he wasn't sending us to a mass genocide chamber, I still didn't understand what his intentions were. _

_"The chambers will only hold a human for twenty years or so. With your animal DNA, you have a better chance without us." Jeb said reasonably. _

_"We're going to be in there for longer than twenty years?" Fang asked, completely not trusting Jeb. After three years, my father had done little to earn back Fang's trust. He won the others over but he knew that nothing he said would ever convince Fang that he was one of the good guys. _

_"What about Mom and Ella? They're human, too." I protested, not believing that this man was going to make me cry. "Are they not going?" _

_"Of course we're going." Dr. Martinez, aka Mom, said as she came into the room where the three of us were talking quietly. _

_"Jeb, what is this?" I demanded. "Stop lying for once in your life. I want to know the truth. If Mom and Ella are going, then why aren't you?"_

_"Just tell them." Mom said slowly, not looking at me or Fang. "They deserve to know, Jeb." _

_"Someone has to stay back and monitor the levels of the chamber." Jeb said at long last, after Mom gave him a look that said 'mind your own business.' "You guys will have a much better chance of survival if the chambers are left undisturbed...so I'm going to guard them."_

_"What!" I exclaimed angrily. "You can't get all self-sacrificing on us." _

_"You will be much better off without me." Jeb was only looking at me, since he knew that no matter what he said that Fang wouldn't trust a word from his lips. "Please, Max, let me do this for you. I know that I screwed a lot of things up and I am truly sorry for all of it. This is the most fatherly thing that I can do for you. It's my duty to protect my children and I've failed so many times with you and Ari. I can't help him anymore, but I can help you. Please?" _

_"How long will we be in there?" I asked, preparing myself to do the math to find out how old Jeb would be when he released us. "When will you release us?" _

_"I'm not going to release you unless I have to. I'm leaving instructions for when I'm...gone, so that whoever releases you will know exactly what they're getting. It could be ten years, it could be a thousand." Jeb said honestly. "I'm giving you the best chance that I can, but I can't promise you that you'll survive at all. This is what's best for the fate of the world, Maximum, you have to believe me."_

_"I love you, Daddy." I said, giving him the one phrase that would hopefully get him through the rest of his life standing guard over us. _

_Because I knew that this was how things had to go. There wasn't enough of the world left for us to save at this point and the couple thousand humans that were left saw us as a threat. One of the main reasons we hadn't left the caves in three years was because we were being hunted. _

The Flock found Jeb's pile of bones next to the chamber when we were finally released from our 'sleep.' By our calculations and the rigger mortise, Mom claimed that he had only died twenty-five years before we were awoken from the chambers. The bastard lived until he was one hundred and fifteen just so he could protect us.

Jeb's death wasn't the only thing that was different. I woke up to find my world completely changed. The senseless killings had been cleaned up. No more gang violence, sure, but there was a much bigger problem now. We were woken from our frozen chambers to find that we were in the middle of not the first but the _second_ rebellion against the nation of Panem. It was enough for me to wish that those stupid humans had never woken us up.

But we were out of cryostasis now. And I was meant to save the world.

I just always assumed that it would be _my_ world that I was saving.


	2. Day One

_Previously: _

_We were woken from our frozen chambers to find that we were in the middle of not the first but the second rebellion against the nation of Panem. _

_I was meant to save the world...__I just always assumed that it would be my world that I was saving._

* * *

The first day out of the cryochambers was the hardest. For me.

Everyone else seemed to be doing fine. The people of District 13 thought we were fascinating. So, of course, the Flock soaked up all of the attention that they could.

Nudge, especially, couldn't wait to show off to all of the people. My little social butterfly exposed her wings whenever anyone asked and even showed off her metal-telekinesis skill about sensing emotions. She regretted that instantly when she found some of Jeb's old equipment. My fifteen year old cried so much in that hour that I thought she might never be able to cry again. She bounced back once a girl just a year older than her befriended her. Delly Cartwright was Nudge's counterpart if ever I had seen one. Though Delly was a bit more polite than my blunt fashionista, the two could be heard talking and squealing in excitement for the better part of the day. The only time that the two instant best friends were separated were when Delly had to go perform her civic duties and go visit Peeta in the hospital wing. But I'll get to that later.

Angel found a friend instantly, as well. Primrose Everdeen was twelve, two years older than my baby, but the two acted so much like sisters. Even Gazzy, who was Prim's actual age, sensed the connection between his sister and this stranger. The three of them made quite a trio. Angelic looking, all three of them, with their golden hair and light skin and those ever innocent blue eyes. If I didn't know any better, I would think they were all three related and not just Angel and Gazzy.

Iggy let Total lead him around on that first day like a guide dog just because there were so many sounds and tunnels and he felt more comfortable with the reassurance. Not to mention, Total wouldn't quit bugging the tall blonde bird kid since his owner had found Prim to play with. Eventually, they found Beetee, a man who was a genius with electrical issues and weapons.

Iggy pulled Gazzy aside from the girls and pretty soon, my boys were best friends with the old man. He was delighted to have some "young whipper-snappers" who actually understood what he was talking about and didn't treat him like he was crazy. I think that Iggy was just itching to build weapons again. Even though we had been frozen in chambers for a hundred years, even before that for three years, Iggy and Gazzy were next to useless underground. I knew my blind brother-in-wings was wanting to feel useful again. There was a war going on!

Ella and my mom made themselves useful, as well. I found my sister in the kitchen with the other chefs and knew that she had found her place in this crazy new world. Though I knew my mom was itching to work on a living patient, she had only been fully conscious for one day after a hundred years. Besides, she needed time to get familiar with the crew here. One woman in particular caught my eye: Greasy Sae. But Mom and Ella seemed to be getting along with her quite well, so I tried to tone down my judgement.

Dylan was quiet, as he had been for the past three years (okay, and a hundred more, but really, we were all quiet for that long...nevermind) since I chose Fang over him as my "mate." Dylan knew he couldn't pout all day, though. He eventually went to join the medical team. Unlike my mother who was hesitant, Dylan had no qualms about diving right in where he most belonged. His healing saliva was instantly put to good use, though no one would tell me who the patient had been. Not that I would have known the person anyways, but it still felt strange to be kept in the dark. I was Maximum freaking Ride, savior of the planet.

No, no. It was just me that was having a hard time adjusting to a world where our wings weren't the biggest concern anymore. Even when we went into the cryochambers a hundred years ago, it was because the world didn't want us to protect them anymore. A freaking meteor crashed into the Earth and left the planet devastated, but our wings still mattered to the few hundred thousand humans that were left. We were freaks and that was how I was starting to think we would always be treated.

But here, there was a war going on and a group of genetically enhanced kids, a talking, flying dog, and two humans that couldn't live without us didn't really seem to matter. We were shuffled around until they could find us a couple of rooms (though it felt like a cage to me so I didn't think I'd be spending much time in my room).

They literally dropped us off in our rooms with the promise to show us around more of the District tomorrow. At eighteen years old, I had never felt more like a child. They were going to "come back for us" in the morning? Really? I was Maximum Ride, the winged girl who was meant to save the world.

Fang seemed to be the only one who understood what I was going through. I stared at him from across our room, watching as his dark eyes watched me right back. Our inseparable bond was tighter than ever and I was thankful that the District 13ers let us choose our own roommates.

Though it made me slightly uncomfortable that Iggy and my seventeen year old sister were an item, I couldn't deny them anything that they wanted either. Not when I was sharing a bed with Fang. Mom, on the other hand, tried to put up a protest. Both of her daughters were in serious relationships (in my case, I was with my one true mate) and she did not like having to give us the sex talk now that we were "flaunting our relationships." It made me uncomfortable, probably more than it made her or Ella, but that was because I had been with Fang my entire life. We had grown up together and when we got the speech two years ago (and again now that we were in District 13), it baffled me. Did Fang want this? It turns out, he did.

Dylan and Gazzy shared a room; Nudge and Angel shared one with Total at the foot of Angel's cot; and my mom was the only one with her own room.

"We got through one day, at least." I spoke up, trying not to let Fang's gaze get to me. Of course it didn't work.

"The first is always the hardest." Fang agreed, his eyes still summoning me. I slipped off my shoes and sat next to him on the bed. I laid my head against his chest and let him pull me closer to him.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" I asked, knowing that Fang would understand that the question was about the cryochamber. I wanted to know if it would have been better for us to die when we were supposed to. Were we being cowards by running from the people who treated us like freaks? I was supposed to save the world. Maybe my time had past and I was supposed to save the world that we left and was now useless in this new society. Would the world have been different if we had stuck around?

"We're alive, aren't we?" My silent partner replied. And though it wasn't much, I knew that it was what I really needed to hear. We would have been miserable living out our lives in this underground facility. At least now the war gave us a chance to either go fight or, if it was won, live peacefully out in the open.

"Can we go flying tomorrow?" I asked, even though it wasn't really up to him or me for that matter. It depended on what the District 13ers said. Well, technically. I had a feeling that they wouldn't notice if we slipped out of the facility for an hour or two.

"I've missed seeing you fly. So pretty and strong when you're in the air, like nothing can hurt you while you're not on Earth." Fang admitted, his voice thick with emotion.

Ever since the meteor, Fang had opened up and was getting better at expressing his emotions. Sometimes he cried for Maya, my clone who he had fallen for while we were separated and I was with Dylan, and I let him. She was dead because of us. I didn't judge Fang for still caring about her; she had freaking died in his arms, killed by a clone of my brother Ari. And Fang didn't judge me when I got in a mood and was angry about everything that had ever happened to us. I took it so hard, like every person that we had met that died was because of me. It was, but Fang never confirmed that thought. He would just let me break the few possessions that were nearby and then hold me while I cried my eyes out.

The Flock didn't know about these faults that we had. Angel knew, if she dug into our minds to find out why we sometimes got these sad looks on our faces, but if she knew she kept quiet about it. I liked to believe that only Fang and I shared these private moments of grief because we had to be strong for the rest of them. They were looking up to us and I would hate to let them see how weak we really are.

* * *

**AN: You might notice that I kept Prim alive. I just don't want to write a fanfic where Prim has to die. Not yet, anyways.**

**Don't forget to leave a review because the more I get, the more motivation I have to post sooner. Thanks! **


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